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I'm starting to build circuit boards and running into a problem that many components are SMD and I can’t buy them in SIP or DIP format. I’ve seen online that you can actually solder SMD by reflowing. Now my question is, can I buy hobby tools capable of this kind of work? I don’t want to buy a reflow oven and a microscope for hundreds or thousands of dollars and so on. I will probably build under 10 boards a year. They will generally be two layer boards with components on one side and pretty small (4”x 4”) for the most part.

What things do I need? I realize that I need some kind of solder paste. Is there a specific kind I need? It looks like a syringe is good to have. It looks like I need a solder wick to lift excess solder. I’m not sure if I need a bottle of rosin since it’s generally in the paste and solder wire.

Thanks!

I'm starting to build circuit boards and running into a problem that many components are SMD and I can’t buy them in SIP or DIP format. I’ve seen online that you can actually solder SMD by reflowing. Now my question is, can I buy hobby tools capable of this kind of work? I don’t want to buy a reflow oven and a microscope for hundreds or thousands of dollars and so on. I will probably build under 10 boards a year. They will generally be two layer boards with components on one side and pretty small (4”x 4”) for the most part. What things do I need? I realize that I need some kind of solder paste. Is there a specific kind I need? It looks like a syringe is good to have. It looks like I need a solder wick to lift excess solder. I’m not sure if I need a bottle of rosin since it’s generally in the paste and solder wire. Thanks!

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[–] • 1 pt

Tweezers, solder, flux, an iron, and a reflow heat gun. Flow your solder beads on the board with the iron. Hold your component where it goes with the tweezers, and shoot hot air at it until it flows again, and that's it. You can even do that with just the iron, but it's really hard to do two or more joints like that. Chips are a lot easier if the pins are out the sides, but if the contacts are underneath it you'll need the heat gun.

[–] • 1 pt

Won't the heat gun blow the parts around?

[–] • 1 pt

Tweezers my dude, and reflow stations have fan settings so you can turn it way down.